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Australia' s former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has praised the Government for the transformation of the country from a sleeping outpost to where it is today. Mr Abbott walked the Kokoda Track in 1980 and repeated the feat in 1988.

He visited the country as Prime Minister of Australia three times since, and was in Port Moresby last week as an ordinary politician to testify to PNG’s transformation.

In the middle of the night on Thursday, the Australian government secretly deported a refugee to Nauru from a Melbourne detention centre, according to human rights lawyers. The man, who is understood to have been granted refugee status, was allegedly removed without warning or legal representation.

Daniel Webb, the director of legal advocacy at the Human Rights Law Centre, said the man was not a client of his organisation, but did have a lawyer who was not informed of the removal.

In a final decision dismissing a federal voting right lawsuit, a federal judge focused her decision on American Samoa, which has “a unique relationship with the United States” and the reason why the territory remains on an Illinois state election law for overseas absentee voters.

U.S. Judge Joan B. Gottschall more than two months ago ruled in the first summary judgment motion by the plaintiffs by dismissing the lawsuit. Gottscahll then sought comments and arguments in the second and final part of the lawsuit, which focuses on the treatment of American Samoa under the Illinois Military Overseas Voter Empowerment Act or MOVE.

France will send an extra 53 police to New Caledonia from February amid top level concern over recent lawlessness in the territory.

The deployment was announced to New Caledonian leaders in Paris at hastily convened talks involving the interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve, the justice minister Jean-Jacques Urvoas and the overseas minister Ericka Bareigts.

The East-West Center is pleased to invite applications for the Pacific Islands Leadership Program with Taiwan (PILP) for 2017. Now in its fifth year, the objective of the PILP Fellowship is to empower young leaders from across the Pacific region to exercise leadership and promote cooperation in a variety of cultural, geographical and institutional environments.

All precincts reported that polls opened on time at 7 a.m. today. The polls will close at 8 tonight. Guam Election Commission Executive Director Maria Pangelinan said precinct officials at all 22 precincts throughout the island will be available to assist voters, including those who cannot physically make it out of their vehicle and into a voting booth.

A 44-year-old Samoan woman, Rosita Afele, has conquered the world’s tallest mountain after 14 days of living on the edge. The Melbourne-based daughter of Fuimaono Savili Afele and Tima Afele from Lefagaoali’i Savai’i, Falealili and Lotofaga Safata, is absolutely elated about conquering Mount Everest, in Nepal, a peak often referred to as a “death zone.” She completed the challenge on 25 October 2016.

United Airlines has discontinued the service of shipping free flu vaccines to the Pacific Islands. The Pacific Island Health Officers Association has confirmed the news to its members. The Financial News reports that the association provides a regional voice for the six US-associated Pacific islands in their development of sustainable and effective health systems.

Pacific Islands Report is a nonprofit news publication of the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Offered as a free service to readers, PIR provides an edited digest of news, commentary and analysis from across the Pacific Islands region, Monday - Friday.